Category Archives: Venture Funding

Cease and Desist, Pano Logic, Thin client, Venture Funding, Virtualization

Pano Logic: the Well-Funded Thin-Client Startup That Just Disappeared

Last year we reported on Pano Logic, the then-hot desktop virtualization startup that made thin-client PC replacements for businesses and institutions looking to replace desktops with cloud-connected terminals.

What a difference 18 months can make. Pano Logic has closed its doors with no explanation. As Business Insider put it, “The company has shut down, its leaders have vanished, and its customers have been left hanging.”

According to Network World’s Buzzblog the closing may have had “something to do with a cease and desist order that Pano Logic couldn’t fight,”

 


Customer Relationship Management, Emergence Capital Partners, Insightly, Venture Funding

Insightly Gets $3 Million to Take SMB CRM Apps to More Platforms

Insightly, a provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software for small businesses, today announced it has completed a $3 million financing round led by Emergence Capital Partners. Insightly, which is ranked as the number one customer management application in the Google Apps marketplace, is using this financing to expand its service outside of the Google Apps platform and make it available to all small businesses starting today.

“Small businesses around the world want CRM software that is easy to use, doesn’t require hours of training, and fits their budget. Insightly’s simple user interface and freemium pricing model meets their needs perfectly,” said Anthony Smith, CEO of Insightly. “We’ve seen massive growth in the past two years by meeting this demand, and Emergence’s investment will allow us to further accelerate this growth and continue to enhance our users’ experience.”

Insightly’s intuitive cloud-based CRM software meets the needs of small businesses and allows users to easily keep track of customer interactions and manage leads, proposals, opportunities, projects and files from any device, at any time. Insightly can be accessed via a web browser from any PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet to keep business moving forward, both in office and on-the-go


Dawn Capital, E-mail archiving, Insight Venture Partners, Messaging, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office 365, Mimecast, Venture Funding

Mimecast Gets $62 Million for Email Archiving

Mimecast, a provider of cloud-based email archiving, security and continuity for Microsoft Exchange and Office 365, has today announced that it has secured $62.15 million in Series C funding led by Global Private Equity Firm Insight Venture Partners, with existing investors Dawn Capital also participating. Mimecast plans to use the funding to accelerate the development and deployment of new technology, and to support plans for rapid expansion in the U.S. market.

Founded in the U.K. in 2003 by Peter Bauer (CEO) and Neil Murray (CTO), Mimecast has grown rapidly, with over 50 percent year on year revenue growth recorded in six of the past nine years. Today, the Company has over 6,000 customers globally – including 70 percent of the U.K.’s top 100 law firms – and over 1.5 million users worldwide.

In addition to growing its existing business within the European, American and South African markets, Mimecast intends to use the investment to drive innovations in corporate email. The Company’s technology has already played an instrumental role in changing the way businesses deploy email; leading the transition from fragmented LAN-based infrastructures to a single platform cloud solution, Unified Email Management (UEM). Mimecast will now focus on continuing this evolution, using its Software-as-a-Service technology to create an Information Banking platform that allows businesses to unlock the inherent value stored within corporate email.

“Today’s businesses are as dependent on email as ever but, increasingly, email struggles to keep up as the way we create, store and share information changes,” Peter Bauer, CEO and co-founder, Mimecast. “At Mimecast, we believe email needs to be rewired if it is to continue to deliver real value to businesses. Building on our history of innovation, we are working to make email more collaborative and more interactive to realize the true value of the vast amount of unstructured data in email stores. We believe that the future is a more interactive archiving model, where IT folk and end users alike can derive more value in real time, on a day-to-day basis on any technology platform they choose to use. The cloud has the potential to democratize information management and deliver these kinds of powerful productivity tools to businesses of all sizes, rather than just being the preserve of the largest enterprises.”

“Email is the most important means of business communication and, better than anyone else, Mimecast delivers a true integrated solution for secure and accessible email,” said Jeff Lieberman, managing director, Insight Venture Partners. “Mimecast has already achieved strong success and with their product superiority, the industry’s move towards cloud solutions and a very large market opportunity, we believe that Mimecast is poised to achieve high growth and become the global leader in unified email management. Insight is delighted to share in this journey with management and existing shareholders.”


Archiving & Regulatory Retention, HarbourVest Partners, Pamlico, Pamlico Capital, Venture Funding

Secure-24 Gets Investment from Pamlico Capital

Secure-24, Inc. (“Secure-24”) and Pamlico Capital announced today that a Pamlico Capital-led investment group has made a growth equity investment in Secure-24, Inc. Secure-24, founded in 2001, is an emerging leader in business critical application hosting and cloud services with a focus on ERP applications from SAP® and Oracle®. The co-founders, Volker Straub and Matthias Horch will retain significant ownership of Secure-24 and will continue to manage the growth of the company in partnership with Pamlico Capital. The investment group included HarbourVest Partners. Detailed terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Secure-24 also announces that it has recruited industry veteran Michael Jennings to join the Secure-24 management team. Jennings was co-founder and CTO of Appshop, Inc. a leader in Oracle ERP hosting.

“We are extremely happy to partner with Pamlico because of its track record supporting companies and entrepreneurs as a growth capital provider,” said Matthias Horch, Secure-24 CEO. “Secure-24 has seen tremendous demand for IT infrastructure and application outsourcing services and is poised to continue to grow as companies focus on building strategic partnerships to reduce costs and improve the operation of advanced and complex IT systems. The expertise and resources Pamlico brings to our team will be critical assets to accelerate innovation, growth and market leadership.”

Pamlico Partner Scott Stevens said, “We focus on making equity investments in growing and profitable industry-leading technology companies. Secure-24 has demonstrated all the characteristics we look for; an experienced and highly capable management team, a strong competitive position, an industry-leading technology platform, and a superior service delivery model. Secure-24’s focus on helping companies increase business value through their IT investments provides them the opportunity for impressive growth in the years ahead.”


Austin Ventures, Parking, Traffic Control, Transportation and Logistics, Trellis Partners, Valet parking, Venture Funding

Flash Valet Gets $1.25 Million for Valet Parking Technology

Flash Valet, maker of cloud-based software that streamlines operations for parking providers, announced today it has secured a $1.25 million Series A round of funding. Led by Trellis Partners, with equal participation from Austin Ventures, G51 Capital, and 186K Ventures, the capital commitment will be used to support development and expansion of the parking technology into new markets.

“The team at Flash Valet has created an unrivaled value proposition for their customers – best-of-breed technology at a fraction of the price of other solutions,” said Alex Broeker, chairman of the board, Flash Valet. “The size of the parking industry is enormous and has been largely bypassed by cloud-based mobile solutions until now.”

Flash Valet gives parking providers the freedom to operate away from cash registers and paper tickets by channeling communications and payment through something we have on us all the time – our mobile phones. Through Flash Valet’s cloud-based system, valet parking providers can track vehicles in real time to control and boost their revenue, manage employee time and attendance (including payroll integration), accept credit cards at the curb and through mobile payments, and more (full list of features available here) – all from one vendor. Parking companies get real-time visibility into their business from their phone or any browser, and with limited upfront investment.

Flash Valet has grown rapidly and now is available in over 50 locations in 13 cities in hotels, condos, restaurants and bars, hospitals, airports, arenas and shopping malls. That number is expected to more than triple over the next two quarters.

Jordan Baer, director of emerging technologies at AmeriPark, said: “Having worked in the parking industry for 11 years, Flash Valet is the first solution we’ve used that constantly adapts to our needs and makes us more efficient. It’s quick and easy for our employees to use, and our customers love that they can text for their car and pay with their phone. We expect to continue rolling out Flash Valet’s products throughout our organization. After all these years, it’s exactly what we’ve been looking for.”


Citrix, Citrix Systems, CumuLogic, Java, Venture Funding

Citrix Fosters Innovation with Investment in Cloud Startup CumuLogic

Citrix Startup Accelerator, a corporate initiative investing in early stage startups, today announced an investment in CumuLogic, an innovative new Cloud Application Platform software provider that enables enterprises, cloud providers and ISVs to develop and deploy Java applications in public, private and hybrid cloud environments.

Focused on entrepreneur-led innovation, the Citrix Startup Accelerator program provides seed investments, office space, and mentorship to select startups from around the world, enabling them to benefit from the global Citrix presence, its entrepreneur-friendly environment, large customer base and seasoned go-to-market strategies. The IT landscape is in a period of dramatic change, shifting expectations, and transformational new computing capabilities. As mobile workstyles and cloud services redefine the technology landscape, many of the best ideas will come from innovative startups with the flexibility to approach programs in entirely new ways. The Citrix Startup Accelerator is designed to tap into the innovation of most promising of these entrepreneurs, while helping them come to market successfully.

CumuLogic was selected by Citrix because of its unique ability to bridge between traditional datacenters and clouds at the application level. As a result, enterprises and cloud providers can begin deploying enterprise-class applications in cloud environments today, without waiting for all the development standards to evolve and mature. By transforming virtualized environments and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds into a high-value Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) cloud, CumuLogic technology simplifies the development, deployment and runtime management of mobile, web and enterprise applications in public, private and hybrid clouds.


DFJ Mercury, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Macheen, Mobile, Venture Funding

Macheen Inc. Gets $10 Million for Connected Devices

Macheen Inc., a  service provider for connected devices, has closed an additional $10 million in financing to build on its leadership position as an enabler of flexible cloud-based connectivity solutions. Philippe Vallée, representing GemVentures, will join Macheen’s Board of Directors as the company continues its drive to deliver greater choice for end-users and new monetization opportunities for device manufacturers, value-added resellers, network operators, and content and cloud service providers.

Macheen’s existing investors also participated in this new financing. Existing investors include North Bridge Venture Capital, which led last year’s Series B financing; and DFJ Mercury (a partner in the DFJ Global Network of venture funds, with over $7 billion in capital under management), which led Macheen’s Series A financing in 2010. Also among Macheen’s investment group are prominent angels and industry figures Tom Meredith, Mike Maples Sr. and Yechiam Yemini.

Richard Schwartz, Macheen’s President and CEO, commented, “We are thrilled to welcome GemVentures as an investor and Philippe Vallée as a board member. Philippe’s vast knowledge, experience, and relationships will be invaluable to Macheen as we continue to expand our cloud-based connectivity services platform.”

Philippe Vallée added, “Macheen is exemplary of the kind of company in which GemVentures tends to invest: at the forefront of an exciting new opportunity, management with a track record of success, and early momentum that underscores and validates its approach. Richard and his team are building the future connectivity model for devices and we are happy to support innovation in the mobile industry.”


Accel Partners, Tenable, Tenable Network Security, Venture Funding

Tenable Network Security Gets $50 Million for Vulnerability Management

Tenable Network Security, Inc., whose software identifies network security gaps before they are exploited by attackers, today announced $50 million in first-round funding from Accel Partners.

Tenable will use the funds to expand its innovative security offerings and accelerate global growth – while deepening its research into evolving threats that are becoming a critical trust issue for CEOs, regulators and customers worldwide.

“Security is a mainstream issue – especially with the explosion of mobile, cloud and virtual computing,” said Ron Gula, CEO of Tenable. “Serious network attacks are far more common than anyone wants to publicly admit – and our customers count on us to keep their networks safe.”

Tenable is the top choice for businesses of all sizes, governments and universities to manage network threats. The company’s flagship vulnerability management products, Nessus and SecurityCenter, are used by the most demanding security professionals and compliance auditors at 15,000 organizations worldwide, including:

  • The entire U.S. Department of Defense, where Tenable has become the
    vulnerability management standard
  • 12 of the 14 U.S. Federal Civilian Departments
  • Top Financial Services Companies: Barclays, Deloitte, RBS, Morgan
    Stanley, T. Rowe Price, Visa
  • Technology Leaders: Spotify, Dell, Etsy, Google, Intel, Microsoft,
    Skype, Apple, Yahoo
  • Top Universities: Brown, Dartmouth, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue
  • Healthcare Leaders: Coventry, HealthSouth, Johnson & Johnson,
    Merck, Scripps, Sutter Health
  • Key Energy Players: Chevron, Chesapeake Energy, ConocoPhillips,
    ConEdison, Duke Energy, TXU
  • Retailer Innovators: Chipotle, GSI, Meijer, Diapers.com, Zappos.com
  • Media Visionaries: British Sky Broadcasting, CBS, Comcast, Time
    Warner, 20    th Century Fox
  • Telecom Providers: Alcatel Lucent, Bell Canada, British Telecom,
    Softbank Mobile, Verizon

Tenable’s user community has 1 million people who have learned the benefits of automated vulnerability scanning through their viral adoption of Nessus.

“Tenable is the thought leader in the rapidly growing and critical area of vulnerability assessment,” said Ping Li, General Partner at Accel, who will join Tenable’s board of directors. “IT security practitioners fight the constant battle to stay ahead of network attacks, and it’s only getting harder. Many of these practitioners globally rely on Tenable for their vulnerability management platform.”

Tenable’s SecurityCenter is the only security platform combining essential active and innovative passive vulnerability scanning, real-time network monitoring, and configuration and compliance management. Tenable’s Nessus, the industry’s most widely deployed vulnerability scanner, provides the deepest database of known vulnerabilities and compliance risks on the market today.

 


Nebula, Open Source, OpenStack, Venture Funding

Nebula Gets $25 Million for OpenStack Cloud Enabling

Nebula, the cloud systems company, has closed its Series B financing round, involving over $25M of additional equity and debt financing. The new round was led by Comcast Ventures, the venture capital arm of Comcast and NBCUniversal, with significant participation from Highland Capital Partners and included Kleiner Perkins, Innovation Endeavors and industry luminaries Andy Bechtolsheim, David Cheriton and Ram Shriram. Investors that participated include Harris Barton, William Hearst III, Scott McNealy and Maynard Webb. Additionally, Silicon Valley Bank is providing additional debt and credit facilities to the company.

“We’re delighted to have the support of investors who have such remarkable track records of success as we continue on our path to make on-premise private cloud computing a reality for all businesses,” said Chris C. Kemp, Nebula CEO and co-founder.

Nebula is now powering next-generation cloud infrastructures in market-leading biotech, financial services and media companies in a private beta program that began in March. This investment will allow Nebula to expand the number of companies that will be able to participate in the beta, continue to expand its product and engineering teams, build a petascale test system, and accelerate development and testing of its product.

“We invest in companies that innovate with open source projects and teams that are focused on creating game-changing disruption,” said Louis Toth, Managing Director at Comcast Ventures. “After spending several years looking at this market, we are confident that Nebula is the company that will bring private cloud infrastructure to the enterprise.”

Nebula, co-founded by former NASA CTO and OpenStack co-founder Chris C. Kemp, has assembled a team of more than 50 engineers inspired by the opportunity to pioneer a new era of enterprise computing. In addition to Dave Withers, former Dell Executive and Senior Vice President of Field Operations, and Jon Mittelhauser, Netscape co-founder and VP of Engineering, Nebula now employs four OpenStack project technical leads, and the engineers responsible for a large percentage of the code in OpenStack.


Bessemer Venture Partners, ClearSlide, Felicis Ventures, Greylock Partners, Venture Funding

ClearSlide Get $28 Million for Cloud Sales Platform

ClearSlide today announced that it has raised $28 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), with participation from existing investors Greylock Partners and Felicis Ventures. Byron Deeter, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and John M. Jack, former Chief Executive Officer and President of Fortify Software, have joined ClearSlide’s board of directors.

ClearSlide transforms enterprise sales teams by giving them a single, modern, cloud-based platform on which to communicate with their customers and prospects, whether in-person, over the phone, or via email. Companies use ClearSlide’s analytics to keep their sales teams on message, identify and standardize best practices, and optimize collateral. For sales reps, ClearSlide removes technology friction, encourages teamwork, and highlights customer interest. ClearSlide is 100% focused on providing a broad, integrated product platform that helps enterprise sales teams drive more revenue.

“At BVP, we’ve been fortunate to work with and help nurture some of the largest businesses in the SaaS industry, which has given us strong insight into the key growth drivers and metrics of leading cloud companies,” said Byron Deeter. “I was really impressed by ClearSlide’s team, as well as their operating metrics and rate of market adoption. There is extremely strong customer demand for their offering and we’re thrilled to work closely with ClearSlide in their next stage of hyper growth.”

ClearSlide will use the new funding to rapidly expand the team, invest in new products and technologies, open new offices, and expand marketing. The company has quickly grown to more than 100 employees with plans to more than double headcount in San Francisco and New York.

“We see a huge opportunity before us. I’m excited that our latest round of funding gives us the resources to expand even faster,” said Al Lieb, CEO and co-founder of ClearSlide. “I’m truly proud of what our team has built to date, honored by the passion and loyalty from our customers, and look forward to the size and scope of what we will build in the coming year.”

ClearSlide’s customer base is expanding rapidly and includes companies from a wide range of verticals, including media, technology, business and financial services. Industry-leading companies such as CareerBuilder, Expedia, Gannett, Rackspace, Shazam and The Weather Channel rely on ClearSlide daily for customer communications across their sales team.

“We ran a detailed study on the impact of using ClearSlide within our sales team,” said Andrew Garcia, Media Sales & Marketing Manager at Wayfair. “In Q2, we saw a 60% higher close rate for the companies we pitched using ClearSlide, compared to our traditional average. We also clearly saw that the reps that used ClearSlide the most also closed the most business.”

More information on the ClearSlide platform and innovative new product features that are helping sales professionals win more deals can be found at: http://clearslide.com/public/content/company/blog